This invention relates to the art of supports and, more particularly, to a support mountable on a surface for supporting an article in suspension relative thereto.
The present invention is particularly adapted for supporting paper or plastic litter bags from the dashboard of a vehicle and accordingly will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it will be appreciated that the supporting device of the invention can be mountable on a surface other than a dashboard and is adapted for supporting articles other than litter bags and, for example, may be mounted on a kitchen wall or cabinet surface for supporting household articles.
Article supports have been provided heretofore which include a mounting portion adapted to be adhesively or otherwise attached to a support surface, and an article supporting portion in the form of a hook or ring attached to the mounting portion to receive an article to be supported. An example of such a previous article holding device is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,164, wherein the article holding portion of the device is a split ring of relatively thick plastic material attached to an adhesively backed sheet of plastic material which is sufficiently thin to be quite flexible so as to readily conform with the contour of a surface on which the support device is to be mounted. The split ring has a preformed contour and, while flexible, has sufficient rigidity to retain its contour under the weight of an article supported thereby. Another example of such a split ring article holder is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,496 together with a bag shaping component mountable on the ring and received in the open upper end of a litter bag supported on the ring. The split ring in the latter patent is also of relatively thick and rigid plastic material and is separately attached to an adhesively backed mounting sheet of plastic material. The bag shaping component is generally U-shaped and engages inside a litter bag along the back wall and outwardly along the opposite sidewalls thereof to maintain the bag open, and is provided with a circular opening receiving the split ring so as to be supported thereby.
While such article holders serve their intended function, the cost of manufacture thereof is undesirably high, the rigid configuration and size of the article holding portion creates problems with regard to storage and shipping of the device, and certain structural aspects thereof limit its useful life. With regard first to the cost of manufacture, the split ring portion must be formed and then attached to the mounting portion, whereby a number of steps are required in the manufacturing procedure. The cost of manufacture is of course related to the time required to produce and assemble the component parts and is increased in proportion to the number of steps required. Additionally, cost of production is related to the amount of plastic material required for the support device, and it will be appreciated that the relatively thick walled plastic ring requires a considerable amount of plastic material to achieve the necessary rigidity therefor. With regard to shipping and storage problems, it will be appreciated that the ring portion of the supporting device rigidly occupies space outwardly of the mounting portion, whereby more space is required to ship or store a given number of the devices than would be necessary if the devices were of a flatter configuration. Such space requirements of course affect shipping costs and, together with cost of manufacture, affect the cost of the supporting device to the consumer. From the standpoint of structural integrity, the attachment of the ring portion to the mounting portion, such as by a fastener element or adhesive, creates an area of weakness in the article support and/or a stress relationship between the ring component and mounting portion which promotes separation of the mounting portion from the surface on which it is mounted and/or separation of the ring from the mounting portion under the weight of an article supported by the ring. In this respect, the ring extends forwardly from the plane of the mounting portion whereby the weight of an article suspended from the ring stresses the material of the mounting portion in the area of connection with the ring. As a result of such stress, the material of the mounting portion is pulled outwardly and downwardly relative to the support surface therebehind, promoting separation of the mounting portion from the support surface and/or tearing of the mounting portion in the area of connection with the ring and thus separation of the ring therefrom.
The bag shaping component referred to hereinabove also serves its intended function in holding the upper end of a litter bag in an open condition, but the three dimensional U-shaped configuration thereof and the amount of plastic material required results in an undesirably high cost of manufacture. Further, the U-shaped configuration and the rigidity of the plastic material creates space problems with regard to shipping and storage which affect cost to the customer as mentioned hereinabove with regard to the rigid ring type article holders. Still further, the circular opening by which the bag shaping component is supported on the ring allows the article shaping device and thus the litter bag to freely swing relative to the ring, whereby the user of the litter bag must often stabilize the bag with one hand while introducing an article thereinto with the other hand.